Improving scale between consumer systems and producer systems of resource monitoring data

ABSTRACT

A consumer system receives capabilities metadata from a producer system that includes resource class metrics for a resource class included in the producer system. Next, the consumer system creates a rule that corresponds to one of the consumer system&#39;s managed entities. The rule includes one or more prescriptions that reference the resource class metrics and specify a periodicity, which informs the producer system as to a time interval for which to send prescription results that includes metric information pertaining to the resource class metrics. The consumer system sends the rule to the producer system and, in turn, the consumer system receives the prescription results from the producer system at the specified periodicity and applies the metric information to the managed entity.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Technical Field

The present invention relates to improving scale between consumersystems that receive resource monitoring data and producer systems thatprovide the resource monitoring data. More particularly, the presentinvention relates to allowing a consumer system to dictate, to aproducer system, periodicities at which to provide relevant resourcemonitoring data as well as instructing the producer system to aggregatespecific resource monitoring data events.

2. Description of the Related Art

Monitoring complex entities like service oriented architecture (SOA)services and/or networks often involves integrating two or moremanagement applications in such a way that one management system(producer system) is sending periodic status information to anothermanagement system (consumer system). A common example utilizing thisarchitecture is a service monitoring (SM) application that receivesperformance metrics and threshold crossing events from one or moreperformance management (PM) systems. Many of these integration scenariosinvolve the consumer system receiving general metrics from the producersystem. In turn, the consumer aggregates and maps the metrics to theconsumer system's devices based upon the consumer system's layout.

SUMMARY

A consumer system receives capabilities metadata from a producer systemthat includes resource class metrics for a resource class included inthe producer system. Next, the consumer system creates a rule thatcorresponds to one of the consumer system's managed entities. The ruleincludes one or more prescriptions that reference the resource classmetrics and specify a periodicity, which informs the producer system asto a time interval for which to send prescription results that includesmetric information pertaining to the resource class metrics. Theconsumer system sends the rule to the producer system and, in turn, theconsumer system receives the prescription results from the producersystem at the specified periodicity and applies the metric informationto the managed entity.

The foregoing is a summary and thus contains, by necessity,simplifications, generalizations, and omissions of detail; consequently,those skilled in the art will appreciate that the summary isillustrative only and is not intended to be in any way limiting. Otheraspects, inventive features, and advantages of the present invention, asdefined solely by the claims, will become apparent in the non-limitingdetailed description set forth below.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention may be better understood, and its numerousobjects, features, and advantages made apparent to those skilled in theart by referencing the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a data processing system in which themethods described herein can be implemented;

FIG. 2 provides an extension of the information handling systemenvironment shown in FIG. 1 to illustrate that the methods describedherein can be performed on a wide variety of information handlingsystems which operate in a networked environment;

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a consumer system instructing a producersystem as to which event information to aggregate and provide at aspecified periodicity;

FIG. 4 is a diagram of a consumer system's managed entities mapped to aproducer system's resources;

FIG. 5 is a high level flowchart showing steps taken in a consumersystem generating rules based upon metadata provided by a producersystem, and the producer system providing prescription results basedupon the generated rules;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing steps taken in a producer systemgenerating capabilities metadata for each resource class included in theproducer system;

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing steps taken in a consumer systemgenerating rules based upon capabilities metadata received from aproducer system;

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing steps taken in a consumer system deployingrules for one of a consumer system's managed entities;

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing steps taken in a producer systemgenerating prescription results for a consumer system based upon rulesgenerated by the consumer system;

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing steps taken in a consumer systemprocessing prescription results generated by a producer system andapplying the prescription results to the consumer system's managedentities;

FIG. 11A is a diagram showing an exemplary embodiment of capabilitiesmetadata generated by a producer system;

FIG. 11B is a diagram showing an exemplary embodiment of rules generatedby a consumer system; and

FIG. 11C is a diagram showing an exemplary embodiment of prescriptionresults generated by a producer system based upon rules received from aconsumer system.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Certain specific details are set forth in the following description andfigures to provide a thorough understanding of various embodiments ofthe invention. Certain well-known details often associated withcomputing and software technology are not set forth in the followingdisclosure, however, to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the variousembodiments of the invention. Further, those of ordinary skill in therelevant art will understand that they can practice other embodiments ofthe invention without one or more of the details described below.Finally, while various methods are described with reference to steps andsequences in the following disclosure, the description as such is forproviding a clear implementation of embodiments of the invention, andthe steps and sequences of steps should not be taken as required topractice this invention. Instead, the following is intended to provide adetailed description of an example of the invention and should not betaken to be limiting of the invention itself. Rather, any number ofvariations may fall within the scope of the invention, which is definedby the claims that follow the description.

The following detailed description will generally follow the summary ofthe invention, as set forth above, further explaining and expanding thedefinitions of the various aspects and embodiments of the invention asnecessary. To this end, this detailed description first sets forth acomputing environment in FIG. 1 that is suitable to implement thesoftware and/or hardware techniques associated with the invention. Anetworked environment is illustrated in FIG. 2 as an extension of thebasic computing environment, to emphasize that modern computingtechniques can be performed across multiple discrete devices.

FIG. 1 illustrates information handling system 100, which is asimplified example of a computer system capable of performing thecomputing operations described herein. Information handling system 100includes one or more processors 110 coupled to processor interface bus112. Processor interface bus 112 connects processors 110 to Northbridge115, which is also known as the Memory Controller Hub (MCH). Northbridge115 connects to system memory 120 and provides a means for processor(s)110 to access the system memory. Graphics controller 125 also connectsto Northbridge 115. In one embodiment, PCI Express bus 118 connectsNorthbridge 115 to graphics controller 125. Graphics controller 125connects to display device 130 such as a computer monitor.

Northbridge 115 and Southbridge 135 connect to each other using bus 119.In one embodiment, the bus is a Direct Media Interface (DMI) bus thattransfers data at high speeds in each direction between Northbridge 115and Southbridge 135. In another embodiment, a Peripheral ComponentInterconnect (PCI) bus connects the Northbridge and the Southbridge.Southbridge 135, also known as the I/O Controller Hub (ICH) is a chipthat generally implements capabilities that operate at slower speedsthan the capabilities provided by the Northbridge. Southbridge 135typically provides various busses used to connect various components.These busses include, for example, PCI and PCI Express busses, an ISAbus, a System Management Bus (SMBus or SMB), and/or a Low Pin Count(LPC) bus. The LPC bus often connects low-bandwidth devices, such asboot ROM 196 and “legacy” I/O devices (using a “super I/O” chip). The“legacy” I/O devices (198) can include, for example, serial and parallelports, keyboard, mouse, and/or a floppy disk controller. The LPC busalso connects Southbridge 135 to Trusted Platform Module (TPM) 195.Other components often included in Southbridge 135 include a DirectMemory Access (DMA) controller, a Programmable Interrupt Controller(PIC), and a storage device controller, which connects Southbridge 135to nonvolatile storage device 185, such as a hard disk drive, using bus184.

ExpressCard 155 is a slot that connects hot-pluggable devices to theinformation handling system. ExpressCard 155 supports both PCI Expressand USB connectivity as it connects to Southbridge 135 using both theUniversal Serial Bus (USB) the PCI Express bus. Southbridge 135 includesUSB Controller 140 that provides USB connectivity to devices thatconnect to the USB. These devices include webcam (camera) 150, infrared(IR) receiver 148, keyboard and trackpad 144, and Bluetooth device 146,which provides for wireless personal area networks (PANs). USBController 140 also provides USB connectivity to other miscellaneous USBconnected devices 142, such as a mouse, removable nonvolatile storagedevice 145, modems, network cards, ISDN connectors, fax, printers, USBhubs, and many other types of USB connected devices. While removablenonvolatile storage device 145 is shown as a USB-connected device,removable nonvolatile storage device 145 could be connected using adifferent interface, such as a Firewire interface, etcetera.

Wireless Local Area Network (LAN) device 175 connects to Southbridge 135via the PCI or PCI Express bus 172. LAN device 175 typically implementsone of the IEEE 802.11 standards of over-the-air modulation techniquesthat all use the same protocol to wireless communicate betweeninformation handling system 100 and another computer system or device.Optical storage device 190 connects to Southbridge 135 using Serial ATA(SATA) bus 188. Serial ATA adapters and devices communicate over ahigh-speed serial link. The Serial ATA bus also connects Southbridge 135to other forms of storage devices, such as hard disk drives. Audiocircuitry 160, such as a sound card, connects to Southbridge 135 via bus158. Audio circuitry 160 also provides functionality such as audioline-in and optical digital audio in port 162, optical digital outputand headphone jack 164, internal speakers 166, and internal microphone168. Ethernet controller 170 connects to Southbridge 135 using a bus,such as the PCI or PCI Express bus. Ethernet controller 170 connectsinformation handling system 100 to a computer network, such as a LocalArea Network (LAN), the Internet, and other public and private computernetworks.

While FIG. 1 shows one information handling system, an informationhandling system may take many forms. For example, an informationhandling system may take the form of a desktop, server, portable,laptop, notebook, or other form factor computer or data processingsystem. In addition, an information handling system may take other formfactors such as a personal digital assistant (PDA), a gaming device, ATMmachine, a portable telephone device, a communication device or otherdevices that include a processor and memory.

The Trusted Platform Module (TPM 195) shown in FIG. 1 and describedherein to provide security functions is but one example of a hardwaresecurity module (HSM). Therefore, the TPM described and claimed hereinincludes any type of HSM including, but not limited to, hardwaresecurity devices that conform to the Trusted Computing Groups (TCG)standard, and entitled “Trusted Platform Module (TPM) SpecificationVersion 1.2.” The TPM is a hardware security subsystem that may beincorporated into any number of information handling systems, such asthose outlined in FIG. 2.

FIG. 2 provides an extension of the information handling systemenvironment shown in FIG. 1 to illustrate that the methods describedherein can be performed on a wide variety of information handlingsystems that operate in a networked environment. Types of informationhandling systems range from small handheld devices, such as handheldcomputer/mobile telephone 210 to large mainframe systems, such asmainframe computer 270. Examples of handheld computer 210 includepersonal digital assistants (PDAs), personal entertainment devices, suchas MP3 players, portable televisions, and compact disc players. Otherexamples of information handling systems include pen, or tablet,computer 220, laptop, or notebook, computer 230, workstation 240,personal computer system 250, and server 260. Other types of informationhandling systems that are not individually shown in FIG. 2 arerepresented by information handling system 280. As shown, the variousinformation handling systems can be networked together using computernetwork 200. Types of computer network that can be used to interconnectthe various information handling systems include Local Area Networks(LANs), Wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs), the Internet, the PublicSwitched Telephone Network (PSTN), other wireless networks, and anyother network topology that can be used to interconnect the informationhandling systems. Many of the information handling systems includenonvolatile data stores, such as hard drives and/or nonvolatile memory.Some of the information handling systems shown in FIG. 2 depictsseparate nonvolatile data stores (server 260 utilizes nonvolatile datastore 265, mainframe computer 270 utilizes nonvolatile data store 275,and information handling system 280 utilizes nonvolatile data store285). The nonvolatile data store can be a component that is external tothe various information handling systems or can be internal to one ofthe information handling systems. In addition, removable nonvolatilestorage device 145 can be shared among two or more information handlingsystems using various techniques, such as connecting the removablenonvolatile storage device 145 to a USB port or other connector of theinformation handling systems.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a consumer system instructing a producersystem as to which event information to aggregate and provide at aspecified periodicity. Consumer system 300 includes managed entitiesthat are organized in a hierarchal manner (see FIG. 4 and correspondingtext for further details). Producer system 310 provides resources andassociated metric information during producer system 310's operation. Inone embodiment, consumer system 300's managed entities may be serviceoriented components that utilize metric information generated byproducer system 310's resources (see FIG. 4 and corresponding text forfurther details).

Consumer system 300 sends request 308 to producer system 310, whichrequests producer system 310 to provide metadata that includes metricinformation that producer system 310 is capable of providing, such as“inbound traffic.” Producer system 310 retrieves resource classes fromresource class store 320 (e.g., interfaces, ports, etcetera), andgenerates capabilities metadata for each resource class, which producersystem 310 stores in metadata store 325. Resource class store 320 andmetadata store 325 may be stored on a nonvolatile storage area, such asa computer hard drive. Once producer system 310 generates capabilitiesmetadata for each resource class, producer system 310 sends capabilitiesmetadata 330 to consumer system 300. In one embodiment, producer system310 generates capabilities metadata 330 prior to receiving request 308.

Consumer system 300 analyzes the metadata and generates rules, whichinclude prescriptions that reference metrics included in thecapabilities metadata. As used herein, the word “prescription” describesa process that consumer system 300 establishes rules by which data willbe reported by producer systems. This is to distinguish the inventionfrom typical “subscription” processes wherein the producer systemadvertises available information as the producer system has chosen toformat the information, and, as a result, the consumer systems arelimited to selecting from the available choices. Consumer system 300stores the rules in consumer rules store 305. Using the exampledescribed above, capabilities metadata 330 may include a metric for theinterface resource class, and specify a periodicity in which to providethe inbound traffic information (e.g., between once every minute to onceevery day). In this example, consumer system 300 may generate a rulethat instructs producer system 310 to provide the inbound trafficinformation on an hourly basis. In another example, consumer system 300may generate a rule that instructs producer system 310 to aggregatemultiple metrics and provide the aggregated result to consumer system300 (see FIGS. 8, 11B, and corresponding text for further details).Consumer rules store 305 may be stored on a nonvolatile storage area,such as a computer hard drive.

Once consumer system 300 generates rules, consumer system 300 sendsrules 340 to producer system 310, which producer system 310 stores inrules store 350. Producer system 310 tracks metric information basedupon rules 340, and provides prescription results 360 to consumer system300 accordingly. Using the example described above, producer system 310sends inbound traffic information to consumer system 300 on an hourlybasis. In another example, producer system 310 sends metric informationwhen the metric information reaches a certain threshold, such as wheninbound traffic exceeds a value specified by consumer system 300. In yetanother example, producer system 310 sends aggregated metric informationto consumer system 300.

Consumer system 300 analyzes prescription results 360 and applies theresults to the managed entities included in consumer system 300 (seeFIG. 10 and corresponding text for further details).

Since producer system 310 only delivers data actually required byconsumer system 300 rather than delivering all data and letting consumersystem 300 filter it, producer system 310 can apply finer grainedsecurity policies resulting in improved security. In addition, by havingconsumer system 300 specify which data to provide and at what intervals,the overhead of synchronizing data collected about resources fromproducer system 310 to consumer system 300 is eliminated. Sinceresources are not synchronized or replicated from producer system 310 toconsumer system 300, consumer system 300 and producer system aredynamically scalable, even when consumer system 300 maps to multipleproducer systems. Since mapping, aggregation and analytics are performedat producer system 310, the fidelity and accuracy of analytics used byconsumer system 300 are substantially more efficient.

As discussed in further detail below, the multi-level grouping mechanismdescribed herein allows consumer system 300 to define rules forautomatically instantiating service structures based on producer system310's resource classes and attributes. As such, the service structureinstances are automatically discovered and organized without requiringglobal visibility of the resource inventory.

FIG. 4 is a diagram of a consumer system's managed entities mapped to aproducer system's resources. Consumer system 400 includes managedentities 402 through 420 that are hierarchically organized into fourlevels, which are levels 422 through 428. For example, managed entities402 through 420 may be virtual private networks, servers, etcetera.

Producer system 430 includes resources 442 through 484, which areorganized by resource class. FIG. 4 shows that producer system 430includes three resource classes, which are a virtual routing andforwarding (vrf) resource class (resources 442-452), an interfaceresource class (resources 454-470), and a port resource class (resources472-484). As one skilled in the art can appreciate, producer system 430may have other resource classes that include servers, routers,databases, etcetera.

Consumer system 400 generates rule “templates” at a “group” level, whichare one or more managed entities that are the same entity type locatedat the same hierarchal level (see FIG. 7 and corresponding text forfurther details). Consumer system 400 then generates rule instancesutilizing the rule templates for each of the individual managed entities(see FIG. 8 and corresponding text for further details). For example,HQ1 410 and Branch 1 412 may both be virtual private networks (sameentity type) and are both located at the same hierarchal level (sitelevel 426). In turn, consumer system 400 may generate a rule templatethat corresponds to both HQ1 410 and Branch 1 412, and then generateseparate rule instances for HQ1 410 and Branch 1 412.

During rule template generation, consumer system 400 maps managedentities at the lowest hierarchical level (VPN level 428) to producersystem 430 (maps 490-495) and associates managed entities at higherlevels with a corresponding lower level, which is referred to herein asa subordinate level. As can be seen, managed entities included in VPNlevel 428 are subordinate to managed entities included in site level426, which are subordinate to managed entities included in region level424 that, in turn, are subordinate to managed entities included incustomer level 422 As a result, each of the managed entities is directlyor indirectly linked to producer system 430. This allows consumer system400 to specify, to producer system 410, an organizational manner inwhich to provide prescription results (see FIG. 8 and corresponding textfor further details). As one skilled in the art can appreciate, consumersystem 400 may also include managed entities that are not hierarchicallyorganized, but rather stand-alone entities, that are mapped to producersystem 430.

Based upon a frame of reference, a level may be subordinate or superiorto another level. For example, site level 426 is superior to VPN level428, but is subordinate to region level 424. Consumer system 400generates rules in a similar manner. Meaning, rules corresponding tosite level 426 are superior to rules corresponding to VPN level 428, butare subordinate to rules corresponding to region level 424. A rule isreferred to herein as a “subordinate rule” when the rule's correspondinghierarchical level is subordinate to another hierarchical level that hasa corresponding rule, which is referred to herein as a superior rule.

FIG. 5 is a high level flowchart showing steps taken in a consumersystem generating rules based upon metadata provided by a producersystem, and the producer system providing prescription results basedupon the generated rules. Producer system processing commences at 500,whereupon the producer system generates capabilities metadata for eachof its resource classes, which includes one or more metrics, and storesthe capabilities metadata in metadata store 325 (pre-defined processblock 510, see FIG. 6 and corresponding text for further details).Metadata store 325 is the same as that shown in FIG. 3.

Consumer system processing commences at 560, whereupon the consumersystem requests the capabilities metadata from the producer system atstep 565. The producer system receives the request at step 520, andprovides the metadata to the consumer system at step 530. In oneembodiment, the producer system may generate the capabilities metadatawhen the producer system receives the request from the consumer system.

At step 570, the consumer system receives the capabilities metadata andgenerates rule templates for the consumer system's entity types basedupon the capabilities metadata (pre-defined process block 580, see FIG.7 and corresponding text for further details). An entity type is a typeof device included in the consumer system, such as virtual privatenetwork, a server, etcetera. The consumer system stores the ruletemplates in consumer rules store 305, which is the same as that shownin FIG. 3.

When the consumer system deploys an entity, the consumer systemgenerates instances of one of the rule templates stored in consumerrules store 305 based upon the entity's group (pre-defined process block584, see FIG. 8 and corresponding text for further details). A groupincludes is one or more managed entities, which are the same entitytype, that are located at the same hierarchical level within theconsumer system. Referring to FIG. 4, HQ1 410 and Branch 1 412 are agroup because they are the same entity types (VPN's) and are at the samehierarchal level (site level 426). As shown in FIG. 11B and discussed inmore detail below, a rule includes a group name clause, one or moreprescriptions, and may include a membership name clause. A rule's groupname clause is often an attribute that may be concatenated with otherresource attributes or static text. Each of the rule's prescriptionscorrespond to a particular metric included in the received capabilitiesmetadata and may include a periodicity, a threshold crossing event,and/or summarizations or aggregations of other metrics.

At step 540, the producer system receives the rule instances and storesthe rule instances in rules store 350. In one embodiment, at times orevents specified by the generated rule instances, the producer systemgenerates prescription results and sends the prescription results to theconsumer system (pre-defined process block 545, see FIG. 9 andcorresponding text for further details). Producer system processing endsat 550.

The consumer system receives the prescription results and processes theprescription results accordingly, such as creating, modifying, and/ordeleting component nodes (pre-defined process block 590, see FIG. 10 andcorresponding text for further details). Consumer system processing endsat 595.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing steps taken in a producer systemgenerating metadata for each resource class included in the producersystem. Producer system metadata generation processing commences at 600,whereupon the producer system selects a first resource class, such as avirtual routing and forwarding (VRF) resource (step 605). At step 610,processing identifies and stores a list of resource class attributes inmetadata store 325, such as instance identities and configurations. Forexample, FIG. 4 shows six instances of a VRF resource class, which arevrfA 442-vrfZ 452. Metadata store 325 is the same as that shown in FIG.3.

At step 615, processing identifies and stores resource eventdescriptions for the selected resource class in metadata store 325, suchas “interface utilization>75% over 5 minutes.” Next, processingidentifies and stores resource state change events and lifecycle eventsfor the selected resource class, such as link up/down, resource created,and resource removed (step 620).

Processing proceeds to identify available metrics for the selectedresource class at step 625, such as a range of time intervals that ametric is available (e.g., every minute up to every hour), and selectsthe first metric at step 630. Next, processing identifies a periodicity(time interval) of the selected metric at step 635. For example, metricX may be available once an hour. Processing then identifies thresholdcrossing events of the selected metric at step 640, such as over athreshold, under a threshold, or a baseline threshold. Processing storesthe metric metadata with the resource class at step 645.

A determination is made as to whether there are more identified metricsfor the resource class (decision 650). If there are more metrics,decision 650 branches to “Yes” branch 652, which loops back to select(step 655) and process the next metric. This looping continues untilthere are no more metrics in which to process, at which point decision650 branches to “No” branch 658.

A determination is made as to whether there are more resource classes inwhich to generate metadata (decision 660). If there are more resourceclasses in which to generate metadata, decision 660 branches to “Yes”branch 662, which loops back to select (step 665) and process the nextresource class. This looping continues until there are no more resourceclasses in which to process, at which point decision 660 branches to“No” branch 668, whereupon processing returns at 670.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing steps taken in a consumer systemgenerating rule templates based upon capabilities metadata received froma producer system. Rules template generation processing commences at700, whereupon the consumer system receives a request to generate a rulefor an entity type from user 715 at step 710. At step 720, processingidentifies key subordinate entity types using defined entity typerelationships stored in specifications store 715. For example, regarding“key” subordinate entity types, a consumer system may include hot spares(multiple servers as backups) and, in this example, processingidentifies entities that are active as opposed to spares. Next,processing invokes a rule creation (step 722) and inserts a group nameto a rule, such as “Rule X.”

Processing identifies a first subordinate entity type at step 724, andinserts a group name clause for the subordinate entity type at step 726.As discussed in detail in FIG. 4, subordinate entities are entities thatare linked to a higher level entity from a hierarchical standpoint. Arule's group name clause may be concatenated with other resourceattributes or static text, such as “VPN_sitename, where the static text“VPN_” is concatenated with the name of a site (see FIG. 11B andcorresponding text for further details).

A determination is made as to whether the identified subordinate entitytype is an aggregation of other subordinate entity types (decision 730).If the identified subordinate entity is not an aggregation of othersubordinate entity types, decision 730 branches to “No” branch 732,whereupon processing inserts one or more prescriptions that apply to allresource instances at the producer system for the identified subordinateentity type (step 740). For example, prescriptions may be in the form of“resourceclass.metric@peridocity,”“resourceclass.metric.thresholdcrossingevent,” and/or“resourceclass.event.”

On the other hand, if the subordinate entity type is an aggregation ofother subordinate entity types, decision 730 branches to “Yes” branch738, whereupon processing inserts a rule that points to a subordinaterule at step 735. For example, referring to FIG. 4, a rule for sitelevel 426 would point to a rule for VPN level 428.

A determination is made as to whether there are more subordinate entitytypes (e.g., different entity types) (decision 750). If there are moresubordinate entity types, decision 750 branches to “Yes” branch 752,which loops back to select (step 755) and process the next subordinateentity. This looping continues until there are no more subordinateentities in which to process, at which point decision 750 branches to“No” branch 758 whereupon processing stores the rule templates inconsumer rules store 305 (step 760), which is the same as that shown inFIG. 3. Processing returns at 770.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing steps taken in a consumer systemgenerating a rule instance for one of a consumer system's managedentities. Rules instance generation processing commences at 800,whereupon processing receives a request to deploy rules for a managedentity, such as integrating a new VPN into the consumer system.Processing retrieves rules from consumer rules store 305 (step 810), andidentifies rules with a group name that corresponds to the deploymentrequest, such as “VPN_HQ1” for the deployment of rules for collectedaggregated metrics for HQ1 (step 815).

At step 820, processing identifies a first group name clause in theidentified rule, and a decision is made as to whether the group nameclause references a subordinate rule (decision 830) (see FIGS. 7, 11B,and corresponding text for further details). If the group name clausedoes not reference a subordinate rule, such as leaf nodes of ahierarchal tree, decision 830 branches to “No” branch 832, whereuponprocessing retrieves entity instance information from system instancestore 838, and inserts a resource membership clause that links (maps)the customer entity to producer resources (step 835). For example,referring to FIG. 4, maps 490 and 491 link VPN1 414 to vrfA 442 and vrfB444, respectively. System instance store 838 may be stored on anonvolatile storage area, such as a computer hard drive.

On the other hand, if the group name clause references a subordinaterule, thus making it a superior rule (see FIG. 4 and corresponding textfor further details), decision 830 branches to “Yes” branch 838,whereupon processing inserts a reference to an instance of thesubordinate rule (stored in consumer rules store 305) at step 840.Consumer resource store 305 is the same as that shown in FIG. 3.

At step 850, processing overrides/includes instance specific values ifrequired. For example, a subordinate rule may specify a periodicity of“every hour,” and a user may wish to change the periodicity for a higherlevel managed entity to “every day.” A determination is made as towhether there are more group name clauses in the rule (corresponding todifferent entity types) (decision 860). If there are more group nameclauses in which to process, decision 860 branches to “Yes” branch 862,whereupon processing selects (step 865) and processes the next groupname clause. This looping continues until there are no more group nameclauses in which to process, at which point decision 860 branches to“No” branch 868, whereupon processing saves the rule instance inconsumer rules store 305 (step 870). Processing sends the rule instanceto producer system 310 at step 880, and returns at 895. Producer system310 is the same as that shown in FIG. 3.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing steps taken in a producer systemgenerating prescription results for a consumer system based upon rulesgenerated by the consumer system. Processing commences at 900, whereuponthe producer system receives rules from consumer system 300 and storesthe rules in rules store 350. Consumer system 300 and rules store 350are the same as that shown in FIG. 3.

At step 920, processing extracts prescriptions from the rules and, atstep 930, processing analyzes the prescriptions. During analysis,processing identifies periodicities, threshold crossing events,etcetera, that correspond to the producer systems' resource classes. Adetermination is made as to whether the producer system should provideresults based upon the prescriptions (decision 940). For example, one ofthe prescriptions may specify a periodicity of every minute. If theproducer should wait to provide results, decision 940 branches to “No”branch 942, which loops back to monitor when to send results to theconsumer system. This looping continues until it is time to sendresults, at which point decision 940 branches to “Yes” branch 948.

At step 950, processing aggregates data from particular resource classesbased upon the extracted prescriptions and, at step 960, processingprovides the results to consumer system 300. As one skilled in the artcan appreciate, a producer system may incorporate other mechanisms thanwhat is shown in FIG. 9 for providing aggregated results to consumersystem 300. Processing returns at 970,

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing steps taken in a consumer systemprocessing prescription results generated by a producer system. In oneembodiment, prescription results processing is dependent on the type ofconsumer system. For example, a consumer system may process prescriptionresults in order to maintain a tree such as consumer system 400 shown inFIG. 4. In this embodiment, the prescription results may be written to ahistorical database for the consumer system to facilitate reporting,display information on a user interface, or subsequent analytics, whichmay be beyond the capabilities of a producer system or when a consumersystem receives results from multiple producer systems that the consumersystem wishes to correlate or combine.

Prescription results processing commences at 1000, whereupon theconsumer system analyzes the prescription results received from theproducer system (step 1010). A determination is made as to whether theconsumer system should modify the rule tree based upon the analysis(decision 1020). For example, a rule's periodicity may be set to fiveminutes and the consumer system determines that values do not vary overshort intervals. As result, to reduce the volume of data, the consumersystem may change the periodicity to every hour. If the consumer systemshould modify the rule tree, decision 1020 branches to “Yes” branch 1022whereupon processing creates, modifies and/or deletes rule nodes basedupon prescription results context information (step 1030). On the otherhand, if the consumer system should not modify the rule tree, decision1020 branches to “No” branch 1028, bypassing step 1030.

At step 1040, processing selects the first node in the rule tree.Processing, at step 1050, adds a timestamp and prescription resultattributes from the prescription results to the rule node thatcorresponds to a managed entity. For example, the consumer system mayreceive metrics in context from the producer, which the consumer systemuses for a particular purpose (e.g., calculations). In this example, theconsumer system creates a new “result” from these values and timestampsthe result, such as a result produced from utilization, latency, andjitter metrics sent from the producer. In this example, the consumeruses the metrics to produce a quality metric for the service, which issubsequently time stamped.

At step 1055, processing compares the prescription results withperformance level objectives of a managed entity corresponding to theselected node. For example, a regional site may monitor network trafficto ensure that the network traffic does not exceed a particularthreshold. A determination is made as to whether a performance breachresults in the comparison (decision 1060). Using the example discussedabove, the prescription results may indicate that network trafficexceeds the regional threshold. If a performance breach occurred,decision 1060 branches to “Yes” branch 1062 whereupon processingresolves the performance breach at step 1065. For example, when aperformance breach occurs from increased utilization, a producer systemmay require added capacity in order to support the increasedutilization. In another example, when a performance breech occurs froman incorrectly tuned system, the producer system may requirereconfiguration. In yet another example, when a performance breechoccurs from a malfunctioning resource, the resource may require repairor replacement.

On the other hand, if no performance breach occurs, decision 1060branches to “No” branch 1068. A determination is made as to whetherthere are more rule nodes included in the node tree in which to process(decision 1070). If there are more rule nodes to process, decision 1070branches to “Yes” branch 1072, which loops back to select (step 1075)and process the next node. This looping continues until there are nomore nodes in which to process, at which point decision 1070 branches to“No” branch 1078, whereupon processing ends at 1080.

FIG. 11A is a diagram showing an exemplary embodiment of capabilitiesmetadata generated by a producer system. A producer system generatescapabilities metadata 1100 for each resource class and provides it to aconsumer system. Capabilities metadata 1100 includes resourceattributes, resource event descriptions, resource state changes,resource lifecycle events, and one or more metrics.

The resource attributes identify attributes supported by a resourceclass (e.g., metrics, identity, configuration, etcetera). The resourceevent descriptions are threshold crossing event rules, such as theutilization>75% for more than 5 mins. The resource state change eventsare events supported by the resource class such as link up, or linkdown. The resource lifecycle events are resource created or resourceremoved. Each metric includes a metric name and may include aperiodicity and a threshold crossing. The metric periodicity is aperiodicity for the metric that is supported by the resource class(e.g., 1 second to 1 hour intervals, or asynchronous events). The metricthreshold crossing evens are events supported by the resource class forthe particular metric (e.g., over a threshold, under a threshold,baseline value, etcetera).

FIG. 11B is a diagram showing an exemplary embodiment of rules generatedby a consumer system. A consumer system generates rules 1140 based uponcapabilities metadata received from a producer system, such ascapabilities metadata 1100 shown in FIG. 11A. Rules 1140 includes rulesfor each group level included in the consumer system (Rule D, Rule E,etcetera). Rules 1140 shows that Rule E is subordinate to Rule D, thisindicating that the group level corresponding to rule E is subordinateto the group level corresponding to rule D.

Each rule includes a group name clause, one or more prescriptions, andmay include a membership name clause. A rule's group name clause isoften an attribute from member services and may be concatenated withother resource attributes or static text. Status prescriptionscorrespond to a particular metric included in the received capabilitiesmetadata and may include a periodicity, a threshold crossing event, anevent, and/or summarizations/aggregations of other metrics (e.g.,average ResourceClass.metric every five minutes). The example shown inFIG. 11B includes a status prescription under “Rule D” of“ResourceClassA.MetricXQperiodicity,” which instructs a producer systemto provide metric X (shown in capabilities metadata 1100) at intervalsspecified by “periodicity.”

FIG. 11C is a diagram showing an exemplary embodiment of prescriptionresults generated by a producer system based upon rules received from aconsumer system. Prescription results 1160 are results based upon rules1140 shown in FIG. 11B. Each result included in prescription results1160 includes a group name, a rule identifier, a timestamp, and resultsfor each prescription specified in rules 1140. The example shown in FIG.11C shows that rule D results include“ResourceClassA.MetricX@periodicity Result,” which is generated by theproducer system based upon the prescription“ResourceClassA.MetricX@periodicity” included in rules 1140's Rule Dstatus prescriptions.

One of the preferred implementations of the invention is a clientapplication, namely, a set of instructions (program code) or otherfunctional descriptive material in a code module that may, for example,be resident in the random access memory of the computer. Until requiredby the computer, the set of instructions may be stored in anothercomputer memory, for example, in a hard disk drive, or in a removablememory such as an optical disk (for eventual use in a CD ROM) or floppydisk (for eventual use in a floppy disk drive). Thus, the presentinvention may be implemented as a computer program product for use in acomputer. In addition, although the various methods described areconveniently implemented in a general purpose computer selectivelyactivated or reconfigured by software, one of ordinary skill in the artwould also recognize that such methods may be carried out in hardware,in firmware, or in more specialized apparatus constructed to perform therequired method steps. Functional descriptive material is informationthat imparts functionality to a machine. Functional descriptive materialincludes, but is not limited to, computer programs, instructions, rules,facts, definitions of computable functions, objects, and datastructures.

While particular embodiments of the present invention have been shownand described, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that,based upon the teachings herein, that changes and modifications may bemade without departing from this invention and its broader aspects.Therefore, the appended claims are to encompass within their scope allsuch changes and modifications as are within the true spirit and scopeof this invention. Furthermore, it is to be understood that theinvention is solely defined by the appended claims. It will beunderstood by those with skill in the art that if a specific number ofan introduced claim element is intended, such intent will be explicitlyrecited in the claim, and in the absence of such recitation no suchlimitation is present. For non-limiting example, as an aid tounderstanding, the following appended claims contain usage of theintroductory phrases “at least one” and “one or more” to introduce claimelements. However, the use of such phrases should not be construed toimply that the introduction of a claim element by the indefinitearticles “a” or “an” limits any particular claim containing suchintroduced claim element to inventions containing only one such element,even when the same claim includes the introductory phrases “one or more”or “at least one” and indefinite articles such as “a” or “an”; the sameholds true for the use in the claims of definite articles.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer-implemented method comprising:selecting a managed entity from a plurality of managed entities includedin a consumer system, wherein the selected managed entity corresponds toa first hierarchical level included in the computer system; selecting arule template corresponding to a subset of the plurality of managedentities included in the first hierarchical level, wherein the selectedmanaged entity is included in the plurality of managed entities;receiving, at the consumer system, capabilities metadata from a producersystem, wherein the capabilities metadata includes resource classmetrics for a resource class included in the producer system; inresponse to receiving the capabilities metadata, creating, at theconsumer system, a rule from the rule template that corresponds to theselected managed entity included in the consumer system, wherein therule is subordinate to a superior rule corresponding to a secondhierarchal level included in the consumer system and includes one ormore prescriptions that reference the resource class metrics and specifya periodicity, the periodicity informing the producer system as to atime interval for which to send prescription results to the consumersystem that includes metric information pertaining to the resource classmetrics; sending the rule from the consumer system to the producersystem; receiving, at the specified periodicity included in the rule,the prescription results from the producer system at the consumersystem; comparing the prescription results to one or more objectives;detecting a breach in response to the comparison; and resolving thebreach in response to the detection.
 2. The method of claim 1 whereinthe resource class metrics include a first resource class metric and asecond resource class metric, the method further comprising: including afirst prescription in the rule that corresponds to the first resourceclass metric; including a second prescription in the rule thatcorresponds to the second resource class metric; and including a thirdprescription in the rule that aggregates the first resource class metricand the second resource class metric.
 3. The method of claim 2 whereinthe first resource class metric corresponds to a first resource classincluded in the producer system and the second resource class metriccorresponds to a second resource class included in the producer system,wherein the first resource class is different than the second resourceclass.
 4. The method of claim 1 wherein one of the prescriptionsspecifies a threshold crossing event for one of the resource classmetrics, the threshold crossing event selected from the group consistingof a minimum value, a maximum value, and a summation value.
 5. Themethod of claim 1 wherein the objective is a performance level objectiveand wherein the breach is a performance breach.
 6. The method of claim 1wherein: each of the subset of the plurality of managed entitiescorrespond to a same entity type; and the superior rule includes apointer to the subordinate rule that incorporates the prescriptions ofthe subordinate rule.
 7. The method of claim 1 wherein the applyingfurther comprises adding a timestamp and the prescription results to arule node within a rule tree that corresponds to the rule.
 8. The methodof claim 7 further comprising creating a different rule node within therule tree based upon the prescription results.
 9. The method of claim 1wherein, at the producer system, generation of the capabilities metadatafurther comprises: selecting the resource class; identifying a resourceclass attribute corresponding to the resource class; identifying aresource event description corresponding to the resource class;identifying a resource state change event corresponding to the resourceclass; and including the resource class attribute, the resource eventdescription, and the resource state change event in the capabilitiesmetadata.
 10. The method of claim 1 wherein, at the producer system,generation of the prescription results further comprises: identifying arule node that corresponds to the rule; constructing a predicate from aresource membership clause corresponding to the rule node; selecting alist of resource instances based upon the predicate; and executing agroup name clause algorithm and inserting one or more resource instancesinto a group corresponding to the rule node.
 11. A computer programproduct stored in a computer readable storage device, comprisingfunctional descriptive material that, when executed by an informationhandling system, causes the information handling system to performactions that include: selecting a managed entity from a plurality ofmanaged entities included in a consumer system, wherein the selectedmanaged entity corresponds to a first hierarchical level included in thecomputer system; selecting a rule template corresponding to a subset ofthe plurality of managed entities included in the first hierarchicallevel, wherein the selected managed entity is included in the pluralityof managed entities; receiving, at the consumer system, capabilitiesmetadata from a producer system, wherein the capabilities metadataincludes resource class metrics for a resource class included in theproducer system; in response to receiving the capabilities metadata,creating, at the consumer system, a rule from the rule template thatcorresponds to the selected managed entity included in the consumersystem, wherein the rule is subordinate to a superior rule correspondingto a second hierarchal level included in the consumer system andincludes one or more prescriptions that reference the resource classmetrics and specify a periodicity, the periodicity informing theproducer system as to a time interval for which to send prescriptionresults to the consumer system that includes metric informationpertaining to the resource class metrics; sending the rule from theconsumer system to the producer system; receiving, at the specifiedperiodicity included in the rule, the prescription results from theproducer system at the consumer system; comparing the prescriptionresults to one or more objectives; detecting a breach in response to thecomparison; and resolving the breach in response to the detection. 12.The computer program product of claim 11 wherein the resource classmetrics include a first resource class metric and a second resourceclass metric, the information handling system further performing actionsthat include: including a first prescription in the rule thatcorresponds to the first resource class metric; including a secondprescription in the rule that corresponds to the second resource classmetric; and including a third prescription in the rule that aggregatesthe first resource class metric and the second resource class metric.13. The computer program product of claim 12 wherein the first resourceclass metric corresponds to a first resource class included in theproducer system and the second resource class metric corresponds to asecond resource class included in the producer system, wherein the firstresource class is different than the second resource class.
 14. Thecomputer program product of claim 11 wherein one of the prescriptionsspecifies a threshold crossing event for one of the resource classmetrics, the threshold crossing event selected from the group consistingof a minimum value, a maximum value, and a summation value.
 15. Thecomputer program product of claim 11 wherein the objective is aperformance level objective and wherein the breach is a performancebreach.
 16. The computer program product of claim 11 wherein each of thesubset of the plurality of managed entities correspond to a same entitytype; and the superior rule includes a pointer to the subordinate rulethat incorporates the prescriptions of the subordinate rule.
 17. Thecomputer program product of claim 11 wherein the applying furthercomprises adding a timestamp and the prescription results to a rule nodewithin a rule tree that corresponds to the rule.
 18. The computerprogram product of claim 17 further comprising creating a different rulenode within the rule tree based upon the prescription results.
 19. Aninformation handling system comprising: one or more processors; a memoryaccessible by at least one of the processors; a nonvolatile storage areaaccessible by at least one of the processors; a set of instructionsstored in the memory and executed by at least one of the processors inorder to perform actions of: selecting a managed entity from a pluralityof managed entities included in the information handling system, whereinthe selected managed entity corresponds to a first hierarchical levelincluded in the information handling system; selecting a rule templatecorresponding to a subset of the plurality of managed entities includedin the first hierarchical level, wherein the selected managed entity isincluded in the plurality of managed entities; receiving, at theinformation handling system, capabilities metadata from a producersystem, wherein the capabilities metadata includes resource classmetrics for a resource class included in the producer system; inresponse to receiving the capabilities metadata, creating, at theinformation handling system, a rule from the rule template thatcorresponds to the selected managed entity included in the informationhandling system, wherein the rule is subordinate to a superior rulecorresponding to a second hierarchal level included in the consumersystem and includes one or more prescriptions that reference theresource class metrics and specify a periodicity, the periodicityinforming the producer system as to a time interval for which to sendprescription results to the information handling system that includesmetric information pertaining to the resource class metrics; sending therule from the information handling system to the producer system;receiving, at the specified periodicity included in the rule, theprescription results from the producer system at the informationhandling system; comparing the prescription results to one or moreobjectives; detecting a breach in response to the comparison; andresolving the breach in response to the detection.
 20. The informationhandling system of claim 19 wherein the resource class metrics include afirst resource class metric and a second resource class metric, theinformation handling system further performing actions that include:including a first prescription in the rule that corresponds to the firstresource class metric; including a second prescription in the rule thatcorresponds to the second resource class metric; and including a thirdprescription in the rule that aggregates the first resource class metricand the second resource class metric.
 21. The information handlingsystem of claim 20 wherein the first resource class metric correspondsto a first resource class included in the producer system and the secondresource class metric corresponds to a second resource class included inthe producer system, wherein the first resource class is different thanthe second resource class.
 22. The information handling system of claim19 wherein one of the prescriptions specifies a threshold crossing eventfor one of the resource class metrics, the threshold crossing eventselected from the group consisting of a minimum value, a maximum value,and a summation value.
 23. The information handling system of claim 19wherein the objective is a performance level objective and wherein thebreach is a performance breach.
 24. The information handling system ofclaim 19 wherein: each of the subset of the plurality of managedentities correspond to a same entity type; and the superior ruleincludes a pointer to the subordinate rule that incorporates theprescriptions of the subordinate rule.
 25. The information handlingsystem of claim 19 wherein the applying further comprises adding atimestamp and the prescription results to a rule node within a rule treethat corresponds to the rule.
 26. The information handling system ofclaim 25 further comprising creating a different rule node within therule tree based upon the prescription results.